Within five or six years, MarkWest Energy Partners hopes to have about 150 full-time employees working at its $500 million natural gas processing complex in Cadiz.

“We’re going to be here for a very long time,” said John Mollenkopf, MarkWest’s chief operating officer.

MarkWest hosted an education forum and barbecue this week at Wallace Lodge at Sally Buffalo Park in Cadiz for more than 100 elected officials, community leaders and other interested residents.

“The purpose was to engage the community with MarkWest, answer questions and tell about the jobs that will be available,” Mollenkopf said.

Those who attended seemed impressed.

“This is the biggest thing to happen in Harrison County in many years,” said Harrison County Commissioner Bill Host.

U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, said he was enthusiastic after the presentations.

“It’s great stuff when you see bricks and mortar going up,” he said.

“It’s good news for Harrison County, good news for this part of the state and good news for the nation,” the congressman added.

State Rep. Al Landis, R-Dover, said development of the Utica Shale is a “tremendous opportunity for the area.” He noted that MarkWest has been proactive in dealing with his office, keeping him informed of every step in its expansion in Harrison County.

The company’s complex in the Cadiz Industrial Park will process natural gas for Gulfport Energy of Oklahoma City. Natural gas liquids will be extracted from the natural gas at the processing plant, using a cryogenic process, and then the natural gas liquids will be broken down into their base components so they will be commercially useful through a process called fractionation at the fractionator.

MarkWest is developing the site with its partner, Energy and Minerals Group, a private equity firm.

Mollenkopf said grading and site preparation work has been completed, and plant construction is now under way.

“During the next six months, we expect huge activity here,” he said.

Currently, 125 construction contractors are working at the site – 90 percent of whom are from Ohio, he said. The number of people working in Harrison County will grow significantly once work begins on laying pipelines to transport the natural gas to the complex. It required 3,000 workers to build MarkWest’s 200 miles of pipeline in Pennsylvania.

Mollenkopf said his company will initially lay 100 miles of pipeline in eastern Ohio.

MarkWest also has an office in downtown Cadiz in a former bank building across from the Harrison County Courthouse. Sixteen people work there.

The oil and gas boom has already helped improved the tax base in Cadiz, said Mayor Ken Zitko.

“We’re proud that MarkWest is putting this plant in Cadiz,” he said. “Everyone we have dealt with has been first-class.”

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Not only has the community attracted MarkWest, but also spin-off companies such as Joe Knows Energy, a Columbus business that is doing infrastructure and site work at the new facility.

Dan Lorenz, its president, said his company has six people working in and out of the Cadiz office. He expects they will be there for at least a year.